Ever face a figure or team you can't seem to take down? Then this is the series for you. We take a deeper look into those problematic pieces and Exploit their Weaknesses! In this edition, we look at a vehicle for the first time in our series and it is one of the coolest ones out there - The Quinjet!

Click "Full Story" below as we analyze this awesome figure and Exploit its Weaknesses.

Thanks for joining me in another installment of Exploiting Weaknesses! As with the other articles' precursors, Pulse Wave will not be discussed as it is almost always effective. If it isn't effective, I will point out why.

Here is the dial for reference.




Things that tell me I need to watch my step:

- Taxi
- 17 clicks of life
- Wakandan Design Trait
- Avengers Transport Trait
- Patch Into The Threat Analyzer
- Resource Dial
- I Have Some Time to Help

Exploiting Quinjet's Weaknesses

The Quinjet is cool in that it has 2 point values (but as with other multi-point figures we will focus on the highest point cost) and can be a resource as well for just 5 more points. The resource is optional but we will go over it as it is used quite often.

The first thing we can look at is the fact that it can carry a lot of characters. In a 300 point game, the Quinjet takes up almost ½ of the build total. That means there aren’t a ton of figures that will be filling out the roster. If a swarm team is being run, then you will see a good amount of characters on the opposing team and the Quinjet can handle most of the job. Carry 4 passengers and having a pilot means more than likely the whole team joining the Quinjet as it moves up the map. When it does so, most likely it will be blocking LoF to the rest of the team so you have to find a way around the Quinjet or just go after it normally. Going after it may be tough and here is why:

The Quinjet has 17 clicks of life!!! For 140/145 points we have 17 clicks to go through. Not to mention it has Invulnerability, Toughness, and Super Senses to extend that life further. “Well just use Psychic Blast or Exploit Weakness!” Sadly, this is not so easy since the Wakandan Design Trait says penetrating damage can be reduced so we are stuck with having to deal with the reducer. This means penetrating damage altogether can be reduced. Penetrating Poison? Nope, sorry! SR Nick Fury Penetrating damage on highest figure? Again, nope! Best thing we can do is Outwit the reducer and then blast it to smithereens! Once you get the dial turned 5-7 times, we can land it on Energy Shield Deflection. It is annoying to get around that but we already know how to combat high defenses. We can avoid it by coming in close too, my favorite being HSS with an Ultra Heavy to really put the pain on the jet (or a Pulse Bolt Torpedo for 7 ). You will more than likely land it on Super Senses after this attack so have some Precision Strike to get around that.

The Avengers Transport Trait is very much like Jarvis' in that the jet counts as 3 characters when determining how many ID cards you can have on your force. There is nothing we can do about this but we just have to accept that the jet player will have that many more options to call in and ID character and find a way around your team. Combo that with the resource dial and we have some issues to overcome. With the resource dial that I linked above, we can see that each click has an increment of 10 until you reach 100 then it goes by 20. These are the point values associated with characters on the sideline that can be called in through I Have Some Time to Help. This isn't a normal call in but instead adds the character to your force and it must be of equal or less points than the value listed. There are stipulations listed as to what the character can do and when it leaves the game. But the main issue is now the other team has added a character to their force and it is that much harder for us to stay safe. If you are able to one shot a character brought in this way, you will score the points for it. But the moment it takes damage that does not KO it, the character leaves play and you get no points. So make your hits count against these characters if you decide to try and take them out. The dial turns in 3 ways: roll a d6 after using the I Have Some Time to Help and click to the click number rolled; use the call in help ability from the ID card and roll a d6, clicking it that many times; or when you clear tokens or take damage you can turn it once. Most players will call in 1 or 2 small guys to turn the dial to a specific click number and then use a few call ins in the medium point range to get the dial turning. If the Quinjet gets to the final resource dial click, it can call in a 300 point figure! That can be devastating late game so be careful to not let it get that high if you can.

Finally, the Patch Into the Threat Analyzer can give us some trouble as well. First it has defend. Even with its 18 defense that can make any small bystander tough to deal damage to. It also can grant an adjacent friendly the ability to use outwit. So every turn a character can use outwit and can change which character does it so you are kept guessing where you need to position to deny line of fire for its use. The best way is to hit the Quinjet off this power. 3 clicks at top dial will knock it off that power so you are a little safer. Just remember that each hit the Quinjet takes, the resource dial turns once so try to get your big hits in as often as possible. Don't just do the 3 clicks of damage but go for the gusto! Also we can outwit this click so in future turns it can't be used.

So, what are we doing to the Quinjet?

- Outwit the reducers since it can reduce penetrating damage
- Hit it onto the weaker clicks 5-7 where no reducer is present
- Come in close when on ESD do dish it a hefty amount of damage
- Precision Strike for Super Senses
- Outwit any of its difficult to manage or annoying powers
- Be aggressive because the longer it is on the map, the more ID characters that can be brought in

How do these tactics help or hinder us against the rest of his team or other teams during the same tournament?

- Outwit is invaluable as it denies powers. Just Power Cosmic and Quintessence are the main stoppers to this so just read characters cards carefully and make sure they can be outwitted in the first place.
- If you have clicks memorize, you should be able to land other characters onto the weak clicks and they will be less than helpful to your opponent on the following turns.
- Being aggressive can help in some cases but harmful in others. Weigh your choices and find what the best plan will be. No need to rush and get caught in a trap when you don't need to be aggressive in the first place.
- Precision Strike is a mainstay on teams now so just use it! One guaranteed damage or Super Senses avoidance will be good no matter what.

That's all I have this time! Until next time, always look for the chinks in the armor and Exploit your opponent's Weaknesses!

Great article, pupulesurfer! Loved playing mine against you last weekend at wko. I think the main draw for the quin is that the main threats aren't even on the map. You could play it safe (like I did) and have every id character able to be called in normally, or you could go for the gusto and have a high point beatstick to charge up the resource dial to.

I was considering charging up mine to bring in kc superman, and make him a pilot so my quin would be rockin the 12, 6. The Quinjet will be seeing lots of play for awhile.

Nice article. but before Worlds. Save some of the secrets. LOL

we need an article ASAP on Exploiting ZTB weaknesses...it's set to rule the modern age for the month of June

A good quinjet team beats a zombie team base almost every time.

"I have some time to help" call-ins "return to your sideline when they take damage", so what would lead you to believe they can be KO-ed for points?

http://win.wizkids.com/bb/viewtopic....c1f09&start=10

Last entry.

The best way to beat this monstrosity is to KO something else and run and hide or simply run and hide for 50 minutes for a roll off. Fun times.

Insanely good for 140 points.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm failing to see how the Quinjet is powerful enough to warrant one of these articles. It's good, sure, but I really haven't seen it be that good before. Every game I've seen a Quinjet played at either point value, it went down in flames fairly quickly. I see why it works and can work, at least, but maybe I'm missing something that's critical?


I can't read that right now, but I'm assuming it says something along the lines of "You can KO these figures if you hit them hard enough."

If so, I really wish we could get some rule consistency. That's another change that was more or less under the radar. Which would be unfortunate.

If not, disregard.

What I'd really like to see is an article on UXM Mystique. That figure is nuts

The point of these articles isn't to take down every single meta worthy piece but stuff that gives some players a difficult time. I have seen the Quinjet mentioned multiple times so I ran with it.

Yes, it was a change that showed up on Monday that switched from the original ruling (which was they immediately return to the sideline when taking damage, I believe from the roundtable power 3 ruling).

Maybe you haven't faced a proficient opponent with it yet, but imagine facing 8 Uber powerful characters that you can't hit because they're off the map (id cards) and you have to get through 17 clicks before you're in the clear of facing those figs.
Then, on top of that, some of those figs can be brought in a la roundtable power 3 a lot quicker than that and your most likely facing beast mode figures like hulk, thor, or superman. It's gross.

I enjoyed reading this article because I'm unfamiliar with the piece. It came out when I wasn't playing much. Now that I'm playing more again I haven't seen it in action in our player group. Not sure when I'll get to use all this knowledge on somebody!

Is the Quinjet really that "bad" as to write a whole "exploit weaknesses" article about it?
I saw a guy winning a tournament with it, but doesn't it take a couple of rounds too long to pull in the real heavy hitters? Perhaps I just need to see it happen to fathom it.

Also, the article here only concerns the 140+5 point version. What about the cheaper version, is it any good?